USA > Pennsylvania > A gazetteer of the state of Pennsylvania : a part first, contains a general description of the state, its situation and extent, general geological construction, canals, and rail-roads, bridges, revenue, expenditures, public debt, &c. &c. ; part second, embraces ample descriptions of its counties, towns, cities, villages, mountains, lakes, rivers, creeks, &c. alphabetically arranged > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
By the act of 20th April, 1829, the senate consists of thirty-three members, at a ratio of 7,700 taxables to each senator ; and the house of representatives of one hun- dred members, at a ratio of 2,544 taxables to a representative. The wages of the members are three dollars per day, of the clerks $300 per ann., and $4 per day during the session. The state is divided into twenty-five senatorial districts, constituted as follows :- 1st. city of Philadelphia, which elects two senators; 2d. county of Phila- delphia, two; 3d. Montgomery county, one ; 4th. Delaware and Chester, two; 5th. Bucks, one; 6th. Berks and Schuylkill, two; 7th. Lancaster county, two; 8th. Dau- phin and Lebanon, one; 9th. Northumberland and Union, one : 10th. Luzerne and Columbia, one ; 11th. Bradford, Susquehannah and Tioga, one; 12th. Northampton, Lehigh, Wayne and Pike, two; 13th. Lycoming, Centre, Clearfield, Mckean and Potter, one ; 14th. York and Adams, two; 15th. Franklin, one ; 16th. Cumberland and Perry, one; 17th. Huntingdon, Mifflin, (Juniata) and Cambria, one; 18th. Westmoreland, one ; 19th. Fayette and Greene, one; 20th. Washington, one; 21st. Allegheny, one ; 22d. Somerset and Bedford, one ; 23d. Erie, Crawford, and Mer- cer, one; 24th, Venango, Warren, Armstrong, Indiana and Jefferson, one; and 25th. Beaver and Butler, one.
(For the distribution of the members among the counties, we refer to the table of population, page 34.)
The principal executive officers established by the constitution and the laws, are the governor, the secretary of the commonwealth, state treasurer, auditor general, surveyor general, secretary of the land office, the board of property, the attorney general, the board of canal commissioners, and the commissioners of the internal im- provement fund. The subordinate ones are sheriffs, coroners, county commissioners, constables, overseers of the poor, roads, &c.
The militia of the state is organized in 16 divisions, of two brigades cach. Ev- ery white male citizen between 18 and 45 years, except United States officers, dri- vers of the mail stage, ferrymen on post roads, post masters, ministers of religion, school masters, pilots, sheriffs, jailors, or judges of courts, must be enrolled. Major generals are elected by the brigadier generals and field officers, and the brigadier generals and all inferior commissioned officers, by the enrolled citizens, every seven ycars : none but citizens of the United States are eligible. The militia is paraded, and trained in companies on the first Monday, and in battalion on the second Monday in May every year, under penalty of one dollar fine for each day's absence for pri- vates, two dollars for subalterns, three dollars for captains, and five dollars for field of- ficers. Fines to be collected on the warrant of the brigade inspector, by levy on the goods of the delinquent. Volunteers may be separately organized, and elect their own officers ; make their own by-laws; appropriate their fines to the use of the com-
* For want of room, the publisher is obliged to substitute a synopsis of the constitution, for a correct and full one, prepared by the author.
56
REVENUE.
pany or battalion, and are armed by the state. Volunteers who have served seven years are exempt from duty, except in case of invasion. The discipline of the mili- tia is the same as that prescribed for the army of the United States.
The grand total of the militia of Pennsylvania in 1830, was 178,942, to wit: 16 generals of division, 32 of brigade and their staff's, and one adjutant general, 207; in- fantry militia, including officers, 145,894; volunteer cavalry, 1,891; volunteer artil- lery, 2,943 ; volunteer infantry, 17,372 ; and volunteer riflemen, 10,842.
The state had in her arsenals, or in possession of volunteers, 46 pieces of ordnance, 24,863 muskets and rifles, 2,760 tents, &c. &c.
REVENUE.
The revenue of the state is derived from the following sources, and for the year 1831, in the quantities respectively affixed to the several items. From lands, to wit, amount of purchase money, with interest thereon, 91,102 68
Fees on warrants and patents, -
10,567 92
Office fees, -
1,658 58
Auctions, viz. auctioneers' commissions, - -
12,100 00
Auction duties
126,504 85
138,604 85
Dividends on stocks belonging to the state, viz. on
Bank stock,
106,198 50
Bridge, canal, and turnpike stocks,
34,398 12
140,896 62
Taxes, viz. On bank dividends, -
30,572 98
On offices,
7,461 53
On writs,
-
-
18,979 89
Tavern licenses,
40,146 94
On dealers in foreign merchandize,
51,445 38
On collateral inheritances,
19,062 81
On tin and clock pedlars' licences
2,029 33
Hawkers' and pedlars' licences
1,593 60
Fees in the office of secretary of state,
-
-
448 60
State maps sold,
446 26
Pamphlet laws sold,
-
-
81 88
Militia and exempt fines, -
-
-
1,381 41
Canal tolls,
40,599 35
The preceding may be considered permanent sources of revenue, varying only in their products.
594,725 46
The following receipts are accidental :
Escheats,
-
-
-
2,199,918 54
Premiums on loans, -
103,196 91
From the commissioners of internal improvement fund, 125,000
Old debts and miscellaneous,
-
3,033,978 57
The expenditures for the year 1832, were for
Internal improvements,
2,335,373 72
Expenses of government,
195,306 91
Militia expenses,
20,525 72
Members of courts martial,
2,313 28
Pensions and gratuities,
22,226 84
Education,
11,185 13
Interest on loans,
91,525 00
Internal improvement fund,
362,682 40
State maps,
- 329 75
Penitentiary at Philadelphia,
-
3,746 53
Penitentiary near Pittsburg,
2,624 25
-
-
.
-
-
-
-
-
38,241 20
-
-
171,295 46
-
- -
20
Loans,
11,087 66
103,329 18
57
EDUCATION.
Conveying convicts,
-
-
-
1,177 96
Conveying fugitives,
-
-
-
-
596 06
Pennsylvania claimants, Defence of the state,
-
-
107 50
Miscellaneous,
9,128 94
$3,058,926 54
The state possesses at present a very small portion of unsold lands, which are valuable, except some reserves in the new counties and county towns. A part of the proceeds of sales of her lands, have been invested in the stock of the Pennsylvania Bank, but large sums are still due from purchasers,
Supposed about,
2,000,000 00
She possesses bank stock,
2,108,700 00
Turnpike stock,
1,911,243 39
Bridge stock, -
-
-
410,000 00
Canal stock, -
$6,629,943 39
The commonwealth was indebted, Jan. 1831, for Turnpike appropriations,
112,324 98
Bridge do.
-
-
-
6,000
River do.
-
-
-
18,190 52
Miscellaneous claims,
-
-
33,614 98
On loans,
-
12,140,000 00
She has borrowed during the year 1831,
2,199,948 54
$14,509,989 02
This debt must be reduced, however, by so much of the appropriations for turn- pikes and bridges, as was paid during the year 1831, amounting perhaps to a sum as large as that charged above to those accounts.
By the act of 25th March, 1831, all ground rents, moneys at interest, and all debts due from solvent debtors, whether by promissory note, except bank notes, penal or single bill, bond, judgment, mortgage and stocks in corporations, (whercin shares have been subscribed in money,) and on which any dividend or profit is received by the holder thereof, and public stocks, except stocks issued by the commonwealth, and all pleasure carriages kept for use, are subjected to a yearly tax of one mill on every dollar of the value thereof'; to be assessed in the manner prescribed by the act, and collected as the county rates and levies ; and to be paid by the county treasurers into the state treasury. And the sum so raised, is vested in the commissioners of the in- ternal improvement fund, and applied to the payment of interest chargeable on that fund. This act is limited to five years from its date.
By another act of the same date, the commissioners of each county are required, during the continuance of the act, to add yearly to the county rates and levies for the use of the commonwealth, one mill upon the dollar of the adjusted valuation of all the real and personal property, persons, trades, and occupations, now taxable, for the purpose of raising county rates and levies, to be paid into the county treasury ; and by the county treasurers into the state treasury ; to be vested also in the commission- ers of the internal improvement fund, and applied to the payment of interest charge- able to said fund. And such fund is to be charged with the same, and the school fund to be credited therewith, and with the interest at five per cent. annually, until the school fund shall be sufficient to produce an annual interest at that rate, of one hun- dred thousand dollars; when the proceeds of such fund is to be distributed, and appli- ed to the support of common schools.
PROVISIONS FOR EDUCATION. " Knowledge is power." It is more, it is virtue, and the means of happiness: and so strongly impressed were the framers of the constitution of Pennsylvania with this truth, that they made it the duty of the legis- lature to provide for the establishment of schools throughout the state, in such man- ner that the poor may be taught gratis. Had the constitution required that a gen- eral and uniform provision should be made for the education of the citizens, without discrimination, it would have been wiser and probably more effective. The necessity of such a general provision is but too apparent, since " more than one half the chil- dren of the commonwealth, between the ages of 5 and 15 years, have not the benefit of school instruction ;- hence a large proportion of our adult population can neither read nor write ; and in some places the inhabitants of whole districts are growing up destitute of instruction, unacquainted with their duty as citizens, unfortified by the 8
-
56 55
-
-
-
200,000
58
EDUCATION.
influence of religion, and left to become fit subjects for that wild spirit of party that has so often shaken to the centre our social relations-or to be the perpetrators of crime, and the miserable inmates of our gaols and penitentiaries."-(Report of committee of legislature, 1831.)
From the adoption of the constitution of 1790, until 1809, no legislative provision of a general nature was made. An act was then passed "for the education of the poor, gratis." It required a report to be made by the assessors of the townships, wards, and boroughs, to the commissioners of the respective counties, of all chil- dren between the ages of five and 12 years, whose parents were unable to provide for their education: and that when the lists had been approved by the commission- ers, that such parents should be notified thereof, and be permitted to send their chil- dren to the most convenient schools, at the expense of the county. This law has many important defects ; the chief of which is, the brand of pauper, which it stamps upon the pupils ; the opportunity it afforded for deception in the undue gratification, the cupidity of teachers, and their total irresponsibility. Notwithstanding its defects, however, this act continued in force until it was repealed by that of 29th March, 1824 ; providing, that every township should elect three "schoolmen," who should superintend the education of the poor children within their townships, and "cause them to be instructed as other children are treated; the expenses of tuition to be paid by the county." But each county might authorise the schoolmen to divide the township into school districts, and to establish schools at the township expense, to which all children belonging to the district might be sent for 3 years, at any time between the ages of 6 and 14 years. This law was applicable to the whole state, with the exception of certain school districts in the city and county of Philadelphia, and city and county of Lancaster. It was repealed in 1826, and the act of 1809 was revived.
By the act of 2d April, 1831, however, the basis of an efficient school fund was laid. The secretary of the commonwealth, the auditor general, and the secretary of the land office were appointed commissioners to receive and manage the school fund, with power to receive and hold for the use thereof, all gifts, grants, and dona- tions that may be made thereto; and all the monies due the commonwealth by the holders of unpatented lands ; also all monies secured to the commonwealth by mortga- ges or liens on land for the purchase money of the same ; (this land debt is estima- ted at two millions of dollars,) as also all fees received in the land office, with the addition of the sum of one mill on the dollar, added to the county rates by the act of 25th March, 1831, are assigned to the common school fund, and held by the common- wealth for the use thereof, at the interest of five per cent. per annum. The interest is directed to be added to the principal as it becomes due, and the whole amount to be holden by the commonwealth, subject to the payment of interest on loans made to the state for internal improvements, until the interest shall amount to one hun- dred thousand dollars annually, after which the interest is to be distributed annually to the support of common schools, throughout the commonwealth, in such manner as shall hereafter be provided by law.
The committee who reported the bill making this liberal appropriation, anticipate that a few years (four,) will produce the sum requisite for distribution, and that thenceforward the means will be available, for supporting an efficient system of ed- ucation, that may be enjoyed by every citizen of the commonwealth.
Besides the general provisions for education above noticed, special ones have been enacted for portions of the state. Thus in 1818, the city and county of Philadelphia were erected into a district, called the "first school district" of Pennsylvania, the pe- culiar organization of which we have described in the article " Philadelphia." By the act April 1, 1822, the city and county of Lancaster was erected into the " second school district," with privileges and duties similar to the first. By the act of 11th April, 1827, the same system was established at Harrisburg; and by act of 19th Feb. 1828, at Pittsburg.
Many scholastic institutions of the higher grade, have been long established in the commonwealth. The university of Pennsylvania, one of the most useful and respec- table in the union, was first chartered in 1753, and received its present form in 1780. (See Philadelphia.) It has real and personal estate valued at $167,059 33, and an annual income of $15,290 39. The Western university was chartered in 1819. Six colleges have also been founded, viz. Dickinson college, at Carlisle, incorporated September 9th, 1783; Franklin college, at Lancaster, March 10, 1787; Washing-
.
59
PENITENTIARY SYSTEM.
ton college, at Washington, 1787; Jefferson college, at Canonsburg, January 15, 1802; Allegheny college, at Meadville, March 25, 1817; Lafayette college, at Eas- ton, March, 1826. This last institution embraces, among other objects, instruction in military tactics, and civil engineering ; and Madison college, at Uniontown, incor- porated March 7, 1827, to which a department of agriculture is to be attached.
Academies, or high schools, designed for teaching the higher branches of English education, with the classical languages, and rudiments of mathematics, have been established in almost every county in the commonwealth; generally one in every county town, and sometimes in some other considerable towns of the county. Some of these colleges and academies are eminently useful ; but most of them are hot bed plants, that require care and protection to make them fruitful. In the thickly popula- ted counties, almost every neighborhood is provided with primary schools, in which reading, writing, and arithmetic, are taught. We refer the reader to the article Philadelphia, for a notice of the " Friends' schools," and other institutions of a lite- rary character in that city. And we may also notice, that by the act of 23d April, 1829, the classical and agricultural school in Susquehannah county was established.
To most of these institutions, the legislature has granted considerable pecuniary aid ; to the universities and colleges generally large sums, and to each of the acade- mies two thousand dollars.
MAINTENANCE OF THE POOR. The system for the maintenance of the helpless poor, like most others in the United States, has been copied from that of England. It is avowedly bad, operating as an encouragement to indolence and vice, and is op- pressive on the industrious. But no means have yet been proposed, which have tend- ed greatly to its amelioration. By the general law, overseers of the poor are elected in March, annually, in each township, &c., who are empowered, with the concur- rence of two justices of the peace, to assess the tax necessary ; to contract with any person for a house or lodging, for keeping and employing the poor, and may take the benefit of their work towards their maintenance; to put out as apprentices all such poor children, whose parents are dead or unable to maintain them. Such over- seers are bodies politic and corporate in law, and may take devices and bequests not exceeding in yearly value five hundred pounds. Each township or district is re- quired to support only the poor legally settled therein, and has power to remove pau- pers to their places of settlement, and to prevent the residence of persons likely to become chargeable. A peculiar system exists in the city and part of the county of Philadelphia, for a knowledge of which we refer the reader to the article " Philadel- phia." And in most of the southeastern and middle counties, alms houses on large and productive farms have been erected, by which employment is given to such paupers as are able to work, and the cost of maintenance is reduced. In some cases, these poor-house districts consist of one or more townships, but commonly they em- brace the whole county. The directors of these institutions generally serve three years, one of whom is elected annually by the people. They draw upon the county treasury, under proper restriction, for the funds they need, and they settle their ac- counts annually with the county auditors. They are also a body politic in law. No compensation is allowed to the overseers, but the directors of county poor houses are usually paid a salary of forty dollars per annum. Persons refusing to perform a term of service are liable to a heavy fine.
CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE, AND PENITENTIARY SYSTEM. The history of Pennsyl- vania, even from her first colonization to the present time, displays a continued effort to ameliorate the criminal code, and improve prison discipline, and to render punishment, what philosophy and philanthropy teaches us it should be, at once the terror of evil doers, and the reclaimation of offenders. Our space does not permit us to trace her course in this labor of love, by which she has attained high consideration among the enlightened of both hemispheres, and we must confine ourselves to a concise notice of her last experiment on this interesting subject. The intercommunion of the prison- ers of our penitentiaries having been found the greatest barrier to their reform, the idea of separate confinement very naturally suggested itself, to those who devoted themselves to the improvement of the penitentiary system. But solitary confine- ment without occupation, which was originally proposed, was deemed the severest of all punishments, as an outrage on humanity, which the spirit of the age would not tolerate, that must destroy the health of the prisoner, and result in rendering him an idiot or a madman, according to his peculiar temperament. The plan met with much resistance, notwithstanding which it was adopted by the legislature, and
60
PENITENTIARY SYSTEM.
measures taken for its execution, by an act passed 3d March, 1818, authorizing the erection of the Western penitentiary at Pittsburg, and the act of 20th March, 1821, for the building of the Eastern penitentiary, at Philadelphia. The first was con- pleted according to the original plan, in 1828, at an expense of $183,091 874. But farge additional expenditures have been rendered necessary, by modifications in the penal code. Both the Western and Eastern penitentiaries were built on a similar plan of construction, solely with a view to solitary confinement. The latter, however, is the larger, and the more perfectly adapted to its object, and we therefore give a description of it.
The Eastern state penitentiary is situated on one of the most elevated, airy, and healthy sites in the vicinity of Philadelphia. The ground occupied by it, contains about 10 acres. The material with which the edifices are built is gneiss, in large masses ; every room is vaulted, and fire proof. The design and execution, impart a grave, severe and awful character to the external aspect. The effect on the ima- gination of the spectator is peculiarly impressive, solemn and instructive. The ar- chitecture is in keeping with the design. The broad masses, the small and well proportioned apertures, the continuity of lines, and the bold simplicity which charac- terizes the facade, are happily and judiciously combined. This is the only edifice in this country, which conveys an idea of the external appearance of those magnificent and picturesque castles of the middle ages, which contribute so eminently to embel- lish the scenery of Europe. The front is composed of large blocks of hewn stone ; the walls are 12 feet thick at the base, and diminish to the top, where they are 22 feet in thickness. A wall of'thirty feet in height, above the interior platform, encloses an area 610 feet square; at each angle of the wall is a tower, for the purpose of over- looking the establishment ; three other towers are situated near the gate of entrance. The facade or principal front is 670 feet in length, and reposes on a terrace, which, from the inequalities of the ground, varies from three to nine feet in height; the basement or belting course, which is 10 feet high, is scarped, and extends uniformly the whole length. The central building is 200 feet in length, consists of two project- ing massive square towers, 50 feet high, crowned by projecting embattled parapets, supported by pointed arches, resting on corbets or brackets. The pointed, munnioned windows in these towers, contribute in a high degree to their picturesque effect. The curtain between the towers is 41 feet high, and is finished with a parapet and embrasures. The pointed windows in it are very lofty and narrow. The great gateway in the centre is a very conspicuous feature ; it is 27 feet high, and 15 wide, and is filled by a massive wrought iron portcullis, and double oaken gates, studded with projecting iron rivets, the whole weighing several tons; nevertheless, they can be opened with the greatest facility. On each side of this entrance, (which is the most imposing in the United States,) are enormous solid buttresses, diminishing in offsets, and terminating in pinnacles. A lofty octangular tower, 80 feet high, con- taining an alarm bell and clock, surmounts this entrance, and forms a picturesque proportional centre. On each side of this main building, (which contains the apart- ments of the warden, keepers, domestics, &c.) are screen wing walls, which appcar to constitute portions of the main edifice ; they are pierced with small blank pointed windows, and are surmounted by a parapet ; at their extremities are high octangu- lar towers, terminating in parapets, pierced by embrasures. In the centre of the great court is an observatory, whence long corridors, eight in number, radiate ; (three only of these corridors, &c., arc at present finished. ) On each side of these corridors, the cells are situated, each at right angles to them, and communicating with them only by small openings, for the purpose of supplying the prisoner with food, &c., and for the purpose of inspecting his movements without attracting his attention; other apertures, for the admission of cool or heated air, and for the purpose of ventilation, are provided. A novel and ingenious contrivance in each cell, prevents the possibil- ity of conversation, preserves the purity of the atmosphere of the cells, and dispenses with the otherwise unavoidable necessity of leaving the apartment, except when the regulations permit-flues conduct heated air from large cockle stoves to the cells. Light is admitted by a large circular glass in the crown of the arch, which is raking, and the highest part 16 feet 6 inches above the floor, (which is of wood, overlaying a solid foundation of stone.) The walls are plaistered, and neatly whitewashed; the cells are 11 feet 9 inches long, and 7 feet 6 inches wide; at the extremity of the cell, opposite to the apertures for inspection, &c., previously mentioned, is the door-way, containing two doors; one of lattice work or grating, to admit the air and secure
61
COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.
the prisoner ; the other, composed of planks, to exclude the air, if required ; this door leads to a yard (18 feet by 8, the walls of which are 11} feet in height,) attached to each cell. The number of the latter, erected on the original plan, was only 266, but it may be increased to 818 without resorting to the addition of second stories. The cost of this building when completed will probably exceed an half million of dollars.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.